Vallisneria Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I was jsut feeding my african tank and noticed something weird. There are tiny threadlike worms swimming around. I have never noticed them before. Any idea what they might be? They are 1/2 -1cm long, thin as a hair and white in color. At first I just thought it was floaty hairs that got into the tank but then I noticed they were swimming and not just floating in the current. The "head" of the worm stayed still while swimming and the "tail" whipped back and forth(anyone remember sperm vidoes from school, the swimming looked like that). The fish look healthy, eating NLS like normal. I clean the tank about 40% every 2 weeks. I've never seen these before and have no clue what these "wroms" could be. I've had planaria before, its definitely not planaria. Anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byte Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I had a bunch of worms like yours swimming the water and I thought at first they where planaria, but they were not sticking to the glass like planaria should. My worms left small "tubes" on the leaves and filter intake tube like a green small tunnel. My best guess was a freshwater nematode and the fry I added to the tank enjoyed the little worms a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byte Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 It took me a while to find the name of the worms that were in my tank. At least that is my best guess... non parasitic detritus nematodes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted May 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I saw one of my mbuna try to eat one but he spit it back out. So I dont' think the fish will get rid of them for me I did a bit of googling and I found some sites that mentioned white thread like worms in the substrate but the guys in my tank are hanging out close to the water line.I haven't seen any in the substrate. I assumed they would be some sort of nematodes. Hopefully they are harmless. I"ll give the tank a good cleaning tomorrow and hopefully they will go away. I'm not a fan of having weird bugs in my tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I had some of those as well a while ago, they would go into the sponge filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 (edited) I have read somewhere that they thought it is a result of overfeeding or tank maintenance? A search on simplydiscus resulted in a lot of treads discussing this. J Edited May 4, 2008 by geleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byte Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I have read somewhere that they thought it is a result of overfeeding or tank maintenance? A search on simplydiscus resulted in a lot of treads discussing this.J Yes, every site mentions overfeeding... the funny thing was it was only in my 20 gallon planted tank and in a newly setup 20 gallon (used gravel) with no fish in either--no food going into these tanks that got the worms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted May 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 I have read somewhere that they thought it is a result of overfeeding or tank maintenance? A search on simplydiscus resulted in a lot of treads discussing this.J Yes, every site mentions overfeeding... the funny thing was it was only in my 20 gallon planted tank and in a newly setup 20 gallon (used gravel) with no fish in either--no food going into these tanks that got the worms. I can understand how overfeeding could cause them but this tank gets fed very sparingly and sometimes I even skip a day.PLus anything the Africans dont' eat straight away then 9 synos will clean up. So I don't' think overfeeding in this tank is an issue. There isn't too many of these "worm". I think at most I saw 5 at one time. It seems they are sticking to the surface. When went to check the tank today I didn't see any. Then I dropped a few pellets in and as usual the fish stirred up the water line. After that I saw 2 of these little worms swimming close to the surface. So they must be up close to the top as I can only find them after the fish have disturbed the water line and mixed them into the water column. I"ll check simplydiscus out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.